Title: Zone A Emergency Government Records
Inclusive Dates: 1955-1990

Creator:

• Zone A Emergency Government

Call Number: Milwaukee Series 33; PH 6508

Quantity: 5.2 c.f. (13 archives boxes) and 6 photographs

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center and the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections.

Archival Locations:

Wisconsin Historical Society (Map)

UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

Abstract:

Records of the Zone A Emergency Government Office, one of five zones in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin charged with emergency management. The bulk of the records date between 1963 and 1980. Zones were created to pool the resources of each community's civil defense related activities, hence the administrative records largely document this coordination and include documentation of partnerships with other civil defense organizations. Included are agreements, minutes, and correspondence for the administration of Zone A, annexes related to the zone's emergency operating plan, and minutes and correspondence for civil defense organizations outside of Zone A for which the Zone A director, Robert Cavey, was a member. The organizations most represented are the Southeast Area, Wisconsin Division of Emergency Government; the United States Civil Defense Council; and the Wisconsin Civil Defense and Disaster Association. The director's subject files consist of information collected by the director to assist in his Zone A work.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-milw0033

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National Origins

The enactment of Civil Defense legislation began soon after World War I and expanded near the end of World War II and during the Cold War. “During World War II, the [federal] Office of Civil Defense (OCD)...devoted most of the OCD's resources to protective services, such as air raid warning and plane spotting.” (McEnaney 17) “...the first postwar agency to coordinate civil defense, the National Security Resources Board (NSRB) was the first to define what national security would look like for nuclear-age citizens.” (McEnaney 14). The government quickly accelerated all civil defense measures after September 1949 when the Soviets successfully detonated an atomic bomb.

The creation of the Federal Civil Defense Administration (FCDA) was proposed by the NSRB chairman and supported by President Truman. In 1950, the “Federal Civil Defense Act transferred civil defense responsibilities from the NSRB to a newly created FCDA situated in the executive branch. It required the FCDA to be headed by a civilian--not military--administrator.” (McEnaney 15). “Nothing in its 1951 Federal Civil Defense Act gave the federal government the power to tax citizens or mandate their participation...It was expected to formulate a coherent strategy for rehabilitating the economy, the labor force, and key civil and military installations; and it was supposed to provide states and cities with guidance on legal and personnel training matters, supplies and equipment, and technical advice.” (McEnaney 22)

State and Local Structure

Zone A and its accompanying governmental civil defense organizations were created in 1950 following the Federal Civil Defense Act and the creation of the Federal Civil Defense Agency, which led to state and local government civil defense planning and organization.

Zone A is one of five zones in Milwaukee County, and it represents the northernmost part of the area. Zone A is also part of the Southeast Area of the Wisconsin Division of Emergency Management, one of several areas dividing the state. The Department of Local Affairs, which became part of the Department of Administration, oversees the state Division of Emergency Government. This division is the parent organization of all administrative areas in Wisconsin. The Southeast Area includes all Milwaukee County zones, New Berlin, Oconomowoc, Washington County, Waukesha, Waukesha County, Brookfield, Menomonee Falls, Cedarburg, Ozaukee County, and Kenosha County.

Zone A, along with the other zones in Milwaukee County, was charged with emergency management. This constituted extensive planning and training for man-made and natural disasters in the Milwaukee County area.

Duties and Activities

According to the Operation alert, 1955: a consolidated report of participation by the City of Milwaukee in the national civil defense test exercise, June 15-16, 1955, “In June, 1948, the Honorable Frank P. Zeidler, Mayor of Milwaukee, organized the Milwaukee Civil Disaster Relief Committee [which]...has...changed to the Milwaukee Civil Defense and Disaster Committee....The function of Mayor Zeidler's committee was to study the various types of disasters which might strike a large metropolitan community and to study further the problem of how such a community could be organized most effectively to combat such disaster.” (Carleton 1) The committee received continuous advice and assistance from officers of the armed services stationed in Milwaukee.

The function of the Milwaukee Civil Defense and Disaster Committee, as well as Zone A's function, was to save lives, provide aid, protect property, maintain morale, aid neighboring stricken communities, and maintain a high level of production.

Funding

“Without federal funding, state and local government agencies responded to the new civil defense directives as best they could, using extant institutions and budgets.” (Brown 70). However, the Operation alert, 1955, report explains that the State of Wisconsin set aside a budget which was matched by the federal government for the purchase of emergency and radiological monitoring equipment. Thus, the budget was shared between the state and federal governments on a fifty-fifty basis after information on available equipment and a needs assessment was completed.

• Carleton, Don E. Operation alert, 1955 : a consolidated report of participation by the City of Milwaukee in the national civil defense test exercise, June 15-16, 1955. Milwaukee : Milwaukee City Civil Defense Administration, 1955
• Grossman, Andrew D. “Atomic Fantasies and Make-Believe War: The American State, Social Contro, and Civil Defense Planning, 1946-1952.” Political Power and Social Theory . Vol 9. Connecticut: Jai Press Inc., 1995.
• McEnaney, Laura. Civil Defense Begins at Home : Militarization Meets Everyday Life in the Fifties . Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, copyright 2000.

Wisconsin. State Council of Defense: World War II. Records, 1940-1945. Call Number: Series 1652

Wisconsin. Division of Emergency Government: Programs and Plans, 1957-1980. Call Number: Series 1774

Background

This series documents the work and activities of the Zone A Emergency Government office. Zone A represents the city of Glendale and the villages of Shorewood, Fox Point, Bayside, Brown Deer, River Hills, and Whitefish Bay. Robert E. Cavey was the Zone A director for a majority of the time covered in the series, so many of the records are closely tied to him and his activities.

The zones were created to pool the resources of each community in the county. Initially, Zone A was a cooperative effort between the seven communities in its region of Milwaukee County and was led by a zone coordinator and civil defense directors from each municipality. In 1962, Zone A decided to hire a full-time director, and in 1963 Robert Cavey was hired to fill that role. When Cavey took his post, he formalized the agreements between the seven municipalities, cementing their agreement to work together in emergency planning. He created an emergency operating plan with “annexes”: portions of the emergency operating plan that address specific areas of concern, such as Communications, Police, Shelter, Fire and Rescue, and Health Services. Also within his role as Zone A director, Cavey spent much of his time working with the Zone A Commission and the Fire and Rescue Services committee. His other duties as director for Zone A included work with multiple state and national civil defense organizations where he frequently participated as a member as well as chair to committees. Cavey retired in 1988, and the later dates of the collection document his retirement and the continued work of his successor, Cecile Zemski.

Records

These records document the administration and functioning of Zone A, as well as the professional associations, work and research of the Zone A director. The records, showing the work done in Zone A over the course of 35 years, from 1959 to 1990 (with the bulk of the material from 1963 to the early 1980s), demonstrates local concerns about civil defense and emergency preparedness. It also illustrates the state of civil defense and emergency management on a regional and nationwide scale through the variety of professional and governmental organizations with which the Zone A director was associated.

Particularly well documented is the ongoing work of Zone A and its advisory body, the Zone A Commission. Minutes and correspondence pertaining to the commission and the associated Radio Communication Commission, as well as the director's subject files, present a look at the efforts of Zone A and its director over the duration of the records' time span. The records also successfully demonstrate the changing face of civil defense as politics and popular opinion begin to influence the public perception of the profession's work. This evidence includes the name change of the United States Civil Defense Council to the National Coordinating Council on Emergency Management, correspondence throughout the records, and Robert Cavey's responses to several surveys.

While the combination of the records for the professional organizations in the collection illustrates a significant period of time, a number of the organizations documented feature records for only a few years. Additionally, the middle years of Zone A are more strongly documented than the early and late years.

The original order of the records was altered to facilitate access. It is now arranged in three series to document Zone A's administration, the director's work, and Zone A's relationship with other civil defense organizations. Within each series, sub-series are arranged alphabetically by title or subject.

ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS, 1955-1990, document Zone A's operation. The sub-series of “Agreements” documents the pooling and coordination of local resources for civil defense. It includes agreements with member organizations and between municipalities pertaining to the establishment and continuing management of partnerships making up Zone A and Milwaukee County civil defense. They include Zone A-related assistance agreements and the agreements to formalize and strengthen coordination with the Radio Communications Commission, one of the most critical components of emergency response. Material in the sub-series titled “Annexes” detail each annexes' (which could be described as a sub-committee specializing in a particular aspect of emergency planning) contribution to the overall Zone A emergency operating plan. Finally, the “Zone A Committees” subseries consists of the minutes and correspondence of the Zone A Civil Defense Commission (which advises Zone A Emergency Government) and the Fire and Rescue Services committee meetings.

OTHER CIVIL DEFENSE ORGANIZATIONS, 1961-1988, documents Zone A's relationship and coordination with other civil defense organizations. The series includes correspondence with and documentation of membership in a number of civil defense professional organizations, as well as federal, state and local committees not directly tied to Zone A. Among the organizations most heavily documented are the United States Civil Defense Council, the Southeast Area Wisconsin Division of Emergency Government and its associated fire and police committees, and the Wisconsin Civil Defense and Disaster Association. Robert Cavey was particularly heavily involved with the United States Civil Defense Council and the Wisconsin Civil Defense and Disaster Association, holding the position of chairman on a number of committees in both organizations and represented Zone A in the Southeast Area meetings. The Southeast Area committee information in particular is also important for its illustration of civil defense work on a scale larger than that of Zone A.

The COORDINATOR'S, 1955-1962, AND DIRECTOR'S, 1963-1987, SUBJECT FILES document the coordinator's and director's activities and interests. The series consists of files accumulated by these individuals in the course of work and research. Information includes newspaper clippings and press releases from Zone A as well as Wisconsin and the United States.

The director's speaking kit is included in this series, as is documentation of the Vial of Life program. The Vial of Life program was developed to encourage Zone A residents to keep their emergency information on a slip of paper in a vial in their cars or kitchens so emergency personnel could appropriately help them if necessary. The Vial of Life records provide an example of explicit directions to speakers and suggested techniques to avoid frightening audiences yet gain their confidence and ultimately their compliance.

Records of the auxiliary police training course document how personnel were trained to handle emergency situations. Information on available emergency shelter and health resources for the American Red Cross are here and document available emergency shelter in Zone A. Finally, minutes and correspondence of the Community Youth and Family Aids Planning committee are included here because Robert Cavey attended the meetings as an appointed community member, not as a representative of Zone A.

Processing Information

Processed by Erin Augustine (Practicum student), May 2005, and Tiffany Namwong (Archival Assistant), February 2007.

Milwaukee Series 33	Series: Administrative Records, 1955-1990
	Subseries: Agreements
Box   1 Folder   1	Emergency Government Zone A Milwaukee, 1988
Box   1 Folder   2	Joint Civil Defense Program, 1962, 1975, 1980
Box   1 Folder   3	Milwaukee County Disaster Commission, Articles of Organization and Mutual Aid, 1964-1966
Box   1 Folder   4	North Shore Mutual Assistance, 1984-1987
Box   1 Folder   5	Radio Communications Commission, Joint Zone A, 1974
	Subseries: Annexes	⇧
Box   1 Folder   6	General Information, 1978-1983
Box   1 Folder   7	Civil Preparedness Guide, 1979
Box   1 Folder   8	Annex A - Management and Coordination, 1977-1985
Box   1 Folder   9	Annex B - Communications, 1981-1985
Box   1 Folder   10	Annex C - Warning, 1978-1986
Box   1 Folder   11	Annex D - Police Auxiliary/Reserve Equipment, 1981-1983, 1985
Box   2 Folder   1	Annex E - Shelter, 1978-1980
Box   2 Folder   2	Annex H - Emergency Engineering, 1979-1984
Box   2 Folder   3	Annex I - Radiological Defense, 1986
Box   2 Folder   4	Annex J - Crisis Relocation Plan, 1986
Box   2 Folder   5-6	Annex K - Fire and Rescue Services, 1978-1985
Box   2 Folder   7	Annex L - Military, 1978-1984
Box   2 Folder   8	Annex O - Emergency Health Services, 1979-1986
	Subseries: Zone A Committees	⇧
	Civil Defense Commission Minutes, Correspondence, and Financial Reports
Box   2 Folder   9-14	1955, 1959-1963
Box   3 Folder   1-8	1964, 1966, 1969-1970, 1973-1974
Box   4 Folder   1-7	1974-1976, 1983
Box   5 Folder   1-9	1984-1988
Box   6 Folder   1-3	1989-1990
Box   6 Folder   4-7	Fire and Rescue Services Minutes and Correspondence, 1963-1970, 1975-1980
	Series: Other Civil Defense Organizations, 1961-1988	⇧
	American Public Works Association
Box   6 Folder   8	Conference, 1980
Box   6 Folder   9	Survey, 1985
Box   7 Folder   1-2	American Society of Professional Emergency Planners, 1980-1988
Box   7 Folder   3	Defense Civil Preparedness Agency (Department of Defense), Student and Teacher's Manual for “Your Chance to Survive,” 1972
Box   7 Folder   4	Intergovernmental Cooperation Council, 1978-1981
Box   7 Folder   5	Milwaukee County Warning Committee, 1967
Box   7 Folder   6	National Association of State Civil Defense Directors, 1968
Box   7 Folder   7	National Defense Transportation Association, 1965-1971
Box   7 Folder   8-9	Southeast Area Correspondence and Minutes, 1965-1978, 1984-1988
Box   8 Folder   1-2	Southeast Area Fire-Rescue Technical Advisory Committee, 1959-1973
Box   8 Folder   3	Southeast Area Police Advisory Committee, 1971-1973
Box   8 Folder   4-5	State of Wisconsin Civil Defense and Disaster Control News Bulletins, 1961-1970
	The American Civil Defense Association
Box   8 Folder   6	Correspondence, 1981-1988
Box   8 Folder   7	TACDA Alert Newsletter, 1981-1987
	United States Civil Defense Council
Box   8 Folder   8-10	Bulletins and Newsletters, 1963-1966
Box   9 Folder   1-3	Bulletins and Newsletters, 1967-1969, 1972-1973, 1982-1983
Box   9 Folder   4-10	Conferences, 1963, 1966-1980
Box   10 Folder   1-3	Conferences, 1981-1983
Box   10 Folder   4-5	Constitution and Bylaws, 1981-1983
Box   10 Folder   6-8	Correspondence, 1963-1971
Box   11 Folder   1-3	Correspondence, 1973-1984
Box   11 Folder   4	United States Civil Service Commission, 1972-1977
	Wisconsin Civil Defense and Disaster Association
Box   11 Folder   5	Bylaws, 1979-1983
Box   11 Folder   6-7	Governor's Emergency Preparedness Conference Exhibit, 1980-1981
Box   11 Folder   8	Membership, 1979-1981
Box   11 Folder   9	Minutes and Correspondence, 1980
Box   12 Folder   1	Minutes and Correspondence, 1981-1982
Box   12 Folder   2	Newsletter, 1979-1982
Box   12 Folder   3	Wisconsin Civil Defense Council, 1963
Box   12 Folder   4	Wisconsin Emergency Management Association, 1983-1987
	Series: Coordinator's, 1955-1962, and Director's, , 1963-1987, Subject Files	⇧
Box   12 Folder   5	American Red Cross, 1980-1984
Box   12 Folder   6	Ambulance Service - County-wide, 1971
Box   12 Folder   7	Ambulance Service Survey, 1972-1976
Box   12 Folder   8	Audits - Civil Defense Projects, 1963-1968
Box   12 Folder   9	Auxiliary Police Training Course, 1965
Box   12 Folder   10	Auxiliary Police Zone A Civil Defense, 1955-1968
Box   12 Folder   11	Auxiliary Volunteers Liability, 1965
Box   12 Folder   12-13	Community Youth and Family Aids Planning Committee Minutes and Correspondence, 1984-1985
Box   13 Folder   1	Personnel and Administrative Program, 1963-1964
Box   13 Folder   2	Rescue Truck Specifications, 1958
Box   13 Folder   3	Speaker's Kit Zone A, 1964-1968
Box   13 Folder   4	Terrorism, 1986
Box   13 Folder   5	Ulichny, Barbara L., Senator, 1986-1987
Box   13 Folder   6	Vial of Life Program, 1981-1982
Box   13 Folder   7	Videorecorders, 1969
Box   13 Folder   8	Volunteers' Medical Expenses, 1986
PH 6508	Waukesha County Civil Defense Test photographs, undated
Milwaukee Series 33 Box   13 Folder   9	Wisconsin Bell, 1985
Box   13 Folder   10	Wisconsin Chiefs of Police Association, 1986
Box   13 Folder   11	Wisconsin Emergency Operations Plan, 1972
Box   13 Folder   12	Wisconsin Police Services, 1966-1987
Box   13 Folder   13	Zone A Emergency Government News Releases, 1963
Box   13 Folder   14-15	Zone A Emergency Government Newspaper Clippings, 1960-1982
Box   13 Folder   16	Zone C Emergency Government, 1986-1987
Box   13 Folder   17	Zone D, Organization of, 1968-1976